Mating Behavior
by phoenixfire74656
Summary: Prompt: "Good work, Commander. In the future, if I have any questions about mating behavior, I'll know where to go." J/C


AN: First story I'm posting in a WHILE! I just watched Elogium which provided me with a perfect prompt :)

Disclaimer: They aren't mine, sadly. I just borrow them, and hope that I'll get beamed up with them someday.

 **Mating Behavior**

"Good work, Commander. In the future, if I have any questions about mating behavior, I'll know where to go."

Chakotay turned around to face his Captain. Under normal circumstances, that was a statement he would never have expected to escape her delicate lips. But this had been a very strange-not to mention very awkward-day on Voyager.

She smiled at him and her clear blue eyes twinkled with a hint of laughter, letting him know that it had, of course, been in jest. He simply smiled back and tried not to flush. The rest of the bridge crew seemed amused by the exchange, but immediately returned to the task of breaking away from the swarm.

As Tuvok had noted, they had lost their sex appeal, and it was time to move on.

The door to Chakotay's quarters chimed. He looked up from the PADD he was reading. It was late, and that meant there was only one person it could be.

"Come in," he called. The doors swooshed open to reveal Kathryn Janeway who, surprisingly, donned a Starfleet-issue tee-shirt and sweatpants. She had also traded in her "bun of steel" for a loose ponytail at the nape of her neck, sending her curled tresses in a cascade down her back.

"I think that's a uniform violation," he teased, trying to subtly eye her up and down.

She sniffed at his joke. "I couldn't sleep," she said as she sat down on the couch next to him.

"Were you formulating questions about mating behavior that you wanted to ask me?" he blurted out. He paled immediately, mentally kicking himself and hoping she would brush it off. Kathryn merely looked up and stared at him before bursting into giggles.

"What a ridiculous day we had," she mused, deflecting the question. "I mean really, of all the things that could happen to us and we get some weird space creature trying to mate with the ship." She paused for a moment, becoming more serious. "Actually, I couldn't sleep because I was thinking about our other conversation about earlier. About children."

Chakotay furrowed his brow. "Ensign Wildman is pregnant," she continued.

"Pregnant?" he asked somewhat incredulously. "How? We've been out here for over six months. She'd be showing by now unless she's having-"

"Her husband is Ktarian," Kathryn interrupted, before his mind went elsewhere. "They have a longer gestation period."

"Oh. I see," he said.

"Anyway," she continued, propping her feet onto his coffee table, "I was thinking about what we're going to do now that we're expecting a baby on Voyager."

Chakotay twisted a bit on the couch cushion to face her better. He could see the concern in her eyes-but he was far more interested in what she was feeling in her heart.

"Do you want children?" he asked quietly. He hadn't meant to be so bold with such a personal question, but his curiosity had gotten the best of him. He and the Captain were not immune to the effects of being stranded in the Delta Quadrant simply because they were the command team, and he cared a great deal-a _great_ deal-about her well-being.

Kathryn turned her head towards him. He could see her eyes were filled with a hundred different emotions-but mainly sadness, and perhaps a hint of regret. She inhaled deeply. "Yes," she finally replied, looking away from him. "I do. But obviously that may never happen now." She turned back to him and smiled sadly.

He unconsciously grabbed her hand and held it in his. "I want kids, too," he said, leaning in towards her and looking her right in the eyes. "And if it ever turns out you want one _now_ , whether that means _now_ is tomorrow or in ten years, I want you to know that you can, because…" He trailed off, unsure of how to finish his thought out loud.

"Because…?" she questioned, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

A lump formed in his throat. He wanted so desperately to make her feel better, but his proposal had quite the chance of making her feel the opposite. After all, he would essentially be suggesting that they skip a relationship all together-which they couldn't even have for a variety of reasons, including the blaring fact that she was already engaged-and jump right into parenting.

Finally, he squeezed her hand. "Because I want to be a father, and you want to be a mother, and we'd be able to do that together."

Kathryn put her feet on the floor and moved away from him a bit. She sat up, her back ramrod straight. "Are you suggesting we have a _baby...together_?" Her words came out sharper than she had intended.

"No," he quickly replied. "Well, yes. Well…" He sighed. "I just meant that if we knew we weren't getting home any time soon and we were running out of time, then maybe…"

She stared at him for a moment, then cocked her head and smiled. "Chakotay...that's a rather generous and committed offer. You're very sweet, but I can't possibly agree. What if you meet someone else and want to have children with that person?"

"I won't meet anyone else," he replied a little too quickly. "Who will I meet out here in the Delta Quadrant anyway? I'm certainly not going to be shacking it up with a Kazon woman," he recovered.

Kathryn laughed. "Stranger things have happened," she countered, patting him on the knee. He grabbed her hand once again.

"I'm serious, Kathryn," he said. "There's no other woman on this ship, or anywhere in this galaxy, who I'd rather have a child with than you."

There. He had said it. It had come out of his mouth before he could have stopped himself, and there was no turning back now. He loved her, and if this was the... _unconventional..._ way in which he had to tell her, then so be it.

All of the muscles in Kathryn's face froze. Her eyes stayed solely focused on his dark, mysterious ones; on his facial features; his dimples; his tattoo. The seconds passed by and it seemed like an eternity before she spoke.

"Yes."

Her voice cutting through the silence startled him. "What?" he asked in surprise.

"Yes," she repeated. "I'll have a baby with you. If and when the time comes." She wasn't ready to give up on Mark and her life back on Earth just yet, but she knew deep down that she had a special connection with Chakotay. She did love him, even if she had trouble admitting it to herself.

He blinked several times. Before he could find his voice again, Kathryn stood up. "And... _if_ and _when_ the time comes," she emphasized, "I'll let you know if I have any questions about _mating behavior_ before we get started on the whole endeavor." She winked at him before turning to head towards the door.

Chakotay flew off the couch and grabbed her by the arm, spinning her around to face him. "Wait," he said. They stood silently in front of each other for a minute before he tucked a wispy piece of hair behind her ear. He leaned in slowly and kissed her, gently, lightly, on the lips.

After a brief moment, he reluctantly pulled away from her. "I'll be ready," he said. "Whenever you are." The corners of Kathryn's mouth turned up into the faintest of smiles before she turned around and left his quarters, her ponytail of curls softly swaying behind her.


End file.
